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Book: After Dakota by Kevin Sharp

Kevin Sharp

about this book: Step back into 1983, the time of Michael Jackson, Cabbage Patch Kids, Ronald Reagan, and the looming threat of nuclear war. This is the world in which three teenagers face big questions and big choices following the sudden loss of one of their closest friends.

I grew up with the great teen movies of the 1980s, by filmmakers such as John Hughes and Cameron Crowe. "Fast Times at Ridgemont High," "The Breakfast Club," "Say Anything" and so many others were funny, yes, but were also about something. They were real.

This novel is my tribute to those stories.

Though it's categorized as Young Adult, my goal was to create a work that could be enjoyed by someone who is now – or ever has been – an American teenager.

• "Funny and moving in equal measure, this story brings you, heart and soul, into the lives of its three central characters, who have to figure out how to grow up in the face of a baffling loss. A beautiful, wonderfully honest, engaging, and significant book."
— Harriet Chessman, author of "Lydia Cassatt Reading the Morning Paper"